A drawback of pro-social incentives for promoting cooperation is the possibility of antisocial reward and punishment where defectors might punish cooperators or reward other defectors, hence hindering the evolution of cooperation [1]}, [2]}, [3]}, [4]}, [5]}.
We argue that this issue disappears when a prior commitment is arranged since it will become clear what behaviour is expected from all parties involved during the interaction. Only those who commit to cooperate can be punished for defection or rewarded for cooperation.
It is not deemed justifiable to punish defectors or reward cooperators if they did commit in the first place.
That is, commitments enable the freedom of choice from players, which can be important in cases where it might be contestable whether a behaviour is good, or when players might not be capable of cooperation for example due to other commitments or lack of resources to carry it out.
